Summertime And the Livin' Is Easy
by IceonFire7
Summary: Just Charlie and Bass relaxing in the Texas heat.


**I haven't written anything in SO long. Real life just hasn't given me all that much of a chance lately. But I wanted to get something done for the Summer Lovin' challenge. This short and sweet little nugget is what came out. :)**

 **This was from a prompt on the Good Ship Charloe site.**

 **As far as the title...there are many fantastic people who have sung this Gershwin song from Porgy and Bess. The incomparable Ella Fitzgerald comes to mind. But I'm a huge fan of the Janis Joplin version. Her raspy voice brings to my mind very lazy, late summer days.**

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"It's hot," he drawled. Turning her head, Charlie glanced over at Bass, sprawled out in the chair next to her. "It is so damn hot."

She'd gotten used to him. After all the battles and fights, the skirmishes against the remaining Patriots and the war against the Nano-tech, she'd finally put any lingering animosity for him to rest. As far as Charlie was concerned, Bass had more than proved himself in the last few years, as he fought alongside the rest of her family and friends to ensure they'd come out on top. And after years of being pushed together as fighting partners, they'd even become friends.

"Damn, it's hot."

Didn't mean he still didn't drive her nuts though. "So shut up and do something about it then."

Expending as little energy as possible, he rolled his head in her direction, meeting her eyes. "Like what?"

"I don't know. Go get a drink or take a swim in the lake or something."

"Yeah, well, the problem with that is everything I could drink is also warm. God, what I wouldn't give for a little ice around here." He dropped his head against the back of his chair, eyes glazing over a bit. "I had ice in the Republic."

"I didn't."

"You had plenty of ice, Charlie," he said, glancing her way again. "It was just during the winter."

Laughing at his own joke, she rolled her eyes. Not that he was wrong about the heat; it was oppressive. And there was just no escaping it. Texas was warm even during the winter, she still wasn't sure she would ever get used to that, but the summer was nearly unbearable. The air was thick and heavy, even breathing was difficult, and she found herself longing for a Wisconsin summer.

"You're an idiot," she said, but the words no longer held the bite they used to. In fact, she'd voluntarily joined him in the wooden chairs set beneath her grandfather's giant live oak tree. A few days ago, Bass and Miles had dragged them off the front porch and set them under the tree, taking advantage of the tiny bit of coolness found in the shade of the tree's large, curving branches. "Go jump in the lake then."

"And when I get out, it will feel even hotter than it does right now." Bass frowned. "That lake is practically lukewarm tap water at this point."

"Well, the rain will be hitting in just a bit." A rumble of thunder echoed in the distance.

Bass groaned. "It lasts for five minutes, Charlie. And everything is **so** much better after that."

Again, she couldn't disagree. They'd been having sporadic showers all week, and all the rain succeeded in doing was making it even hotter and muggier when it ended. "Find something to do or just keep quiet, Bass. Your complaining is making me even more miserable."

Ignoring her, he kept on talking. "This is ridiculous though, this heat. I thought I knew heat. I did tours of duty in Iraq. It's a freaking desert and it never felt as disgusting as this."

"Well...unless you still have one of those pendants hanging around somewhere so we can plug in a refrigerator, I think we're stuck." She looked over at him. His feet were bare and his shirt was unbuttoned. Some part of her still couldn't get used to seeing him that way. He wasn't the general anymore, but during the wars, he'd always been fully dressed. She'd never even seen him without boots on until they'd returned from the battle in Idaho. It was...disconcerting.

Actually, she wasn't sure if it was unsettling because he was now the relaxed Bass, who no longer had wars to fight and things to prove. Or if it was because she enjoyed spending time around the new laid-back persona of his. Or...if it was because she noticed the definition of the abs on his chest, the firmness of his skin, the tautness of his stomach. Even his feet looked strong.

Yeah, that was probably what bothered her the most. In the last few years, Charlie had noticed exactly how attractive Sebastian Monroe really was.

"Charlie?"

"Huh?" His voice brought her out of her reverie and she blushed when she realized she'd zoned out thinking about him...again. It was becoming a habit lately. She just hoped he mistook the redness of her cheeks for warmth and not embarrassment.

"You know what we really need?" he asked.

"I'm sure you're going to tell me."

"Lemonade."

"What?"

"We need lemonade."

"Lemonade? What is...I don't even know..." She knew of lemons. But the warm weather fruit was almost impossible to find in the post-Blackout world.

"It's a drink. We used to have it every summer when we were kids. Me and Miles and Ben."

Funny, him bringing up her father didn't raise her ire the way it once had. She'd spent a lot of time with him on the road and heard all the stories of his life and childhood, both from him and Miles. They'd been friends the three of them, her father included. Five years after leaving Sylvania Estates, she knew enough about life to understand the Blackout had done a lot more than turn out the lights. It had split families and friendships more than anything else in the history of the world. And somewhere along the way, she realized she really couldn't forgive Miles without extending the same courtesy to Bass.

"Are you telling me you don't remember it at all?"

"Should I?"

"You loved it when you were a kid." Yet another thing she'd had to deal with. Bass had known her as a child. The first time she'd learned that little fact, she'd refused to believe it. But hearing the same from both Miles and, reluctantly, Rachel, she'd had no choice but to accept it. She even thought she remembered him in some deep dark part of her brain. "Nothing...no bells ringing?"

Shaking her head, she met his eyes. "Nothing. But...lemons are sour, aren't they? Why would they be good as a drink?"

"Because you mix it with sugar, dumb-ass." She chuckled as he let out a full blown laugh. Bass's taunts were normal now; at some point, she realized he used them as a sign of respect. The bigger the insult, the more Bass liked you.

"Whatever. So sugar and lemons...that's it?"

"And water. It was a simple little drink, Charlie." He leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms above him and resting his head on them. "But everything about it reminds me of summer. Laying in a wide open field in the sun, climbing trees and riding bikes, sitting on the end of a dock, feet dragging in the cool water below."

Watching him reminisce, she smiled as his eyes took on a rich, blue glow. Her own childhood had been somewhat like that; despite living in the Monroe Republic, she'd always felt safe in her little village. "Sounds nice."

He glanced at her again, their eyes locking. "It was."

"So...what did it taste like?" Sometimes when he stared at her, she really thought the attraction she felt for him was not entirely one-sided.

"Well, it was...it was lemonade. It was sweet, but sour. Sweet tart, it was like a SweetTart." Realizing she probably wouldn't get that reference either, he shrugged. "That was a candy thing we had pre-Blackout."

"Hmmm...can't say I remember those either. Describe lemonade to me in more detail."

"Well, I don't..." He sighed. "OK, but close your eyes."

"Why?"

Sitting forward, he focused on her. "So you can get the full effect of it."

"Alright." She thought it was silly, but if he could take her mind off the incessant heat for a little while, she was all for it.

"Closed." At her nod, he began. "Lemonade was...well, the first sip was cold, refreshing, the feel of ice bumping up against your lips, sending a shiver down your body."

His voice was low and thick, the very tone of it sending a shiver down **her** body. Before she could fully analyze what that meant, he continued.

"And then the flavor hit. The clean, cool, freshness of the sour lemon. But before the tartness even reached the back of the throat, the sweet crashed onto your taste buds, covering your tongue with a perfect mix of completely opposite tastes."

Charlie inhaled, breaths coming a little faster now. A tingling feeling shot up from the tips of her bare toes to the top of her head, rushing around her core and settling in her stomach. And her heart.

"The sweet was a gentle caress; the sour a pungent reminder of how sharp the lemon could be."

She swallowed, her voice ragged when she spoke. "Those two things don't seem as if they really go together at all."

"The lemon and the sugar?" She shook her head. "Opposites attract, Charlie. You know that. Sweet is calming, safe, warm. And sour is rough, jagged...slightly bitter. But you mix those together, you get an explosive combination that perfectly balances those contrasting flavors out."

Opening her eyes and turning her head, she found him kneeling beside her chair, his face dangerously close to hers. "Are we still talking about lemonade?"

"Oh, yeah," he said, leaning in to capture her lips in a searing kiss.

Regardless of the daydreams she'd been having about him, the lightning bolt that reverberated through her body took her by surprise. Never before had a kiss done that to her. But never before had she been waiting for a kiss for so damn long. If she was completely honest with herself, she had to admit her attraction to Bass started far earlier than the end of the war. No, her attraction had begun the minute she walked into a fighting tent in New Vegas three years ago.

Without a thought, her hand came up and tangled in the curls on the back of his head, pulling him closer as he deepened the kiss. When his tongue traced the seam of her lips, she opened for him, allowing him access to her mouth. Bass tilted his head more, leaning further into her, drawing a whimper from the back of her throat.

The small noise yanked him back to his senses and he slowed the kiss, softening it before allowing it to trail off altogether. When it ended, they were left staring at each other in wonder.

Bass cleared his throat. "Well..."

"Well..." she replied, her bright blue eyes locked on his.

After a few more minutes of gaping, he chuckled, Charlie following suit. Leaning his forehead against hers, he swept a finger down her cheek. "So...since we don't have lemonade that was the best I could do."

"Worked for me."

"You have no idea how long I've wanted to do that."

"I might."

Pulling back, he slid his hand into hers. "Maybe we have some things to talk about."

"Maybe." She smiled, and he met her with his mega-watt grin.

"Yeah, but first..." He pulled her up our of her chair, tugging her away from the huge oak. "I think I might like to go take that jump in the lake."

"I thought it was too hot," she said, allowing herself to be pulled away from the coolness of the shade tree.

"With the right company, it might just be perfect. Besides, the water can't get any hotter than I am right now." Hand still firmly in hers, he turned to face her, walking backward towards the lake. "I just really want to be alone with you, Charlie. What do you say?"

"I say...race you."

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 **If you have a moment, let me know what you think. :)**


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